Sunday, December 8, 2013

THE latest
Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, a lobby, does not
make happy reading for those in the Middle East.
Five Arab countries come among the bottom ten countries for corruption: Somalia, Sudan,
Libya, Iraq and Syria. The highest ranking of the
177 states included in the study is the UAE at 26. Qatar comes two places further
down. Israel
fares slightly worse in 36th position. The other Gulf countries do best among
the remaining Arab states: Bahrain,
Oman, Saudi Arabia follow the UAE and Qatar. Egypt. which
desperately needs to kick start its economy after almost three years of
turmoil, comes in at a lousy 114 (joint with Indonesia).